Home TV Radio Talk ... Newswatch LANGUAGES Brazil Caribbean More Last Updated: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 13:44 GMT 14:44 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version Country profile: El Salvador El Salvador, which is Spanish for "the saviour" - or Jesus Christ - has been wracked by civil war and a succession of natural disasters which have left it physically devastated and psychologically traumatised. A tiny country, El Salvador is both the most densely populated state on the mainland of the Americas and the most industrialised in Central America. However, social inequality and the fact that the country lies within a seismic zone define much of contemporary El Salvador. OVERVIEW FACTS LEADERS MEDIA During the 1980s, El Salvador was ravaged by a bitter civil war. This was the result of gross inequality between a small and wealthy elite, which dominated the government and the economy, and the overwhelming majority of the population, many of whom lived - and continue to live - in abject squalor. The war left around 70,000 people dead and caused damage worth $2bn, but it also precipitated important political reforms. In 1992 a United Nations-brokered peace agreement ended the civil war, but no sooner had El Salvador begun to recover when it was hit by a series of natural disasters. The most notable of these was Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and a number of earthquakes in 2001. These left at least 1,200 people dead and more than a million others homeless. | |
|